Who is Sanjiv Puri? Meet the man who may succeed ITC's Deveshwar

Moneycontrol BureauSanjiv Puri, for the maiden Chief Operating Officer of consumer giant ITC, is widely regarded as the likely successor to Chief Executive Officer YC Deveshwar. Puri has his job cut out at ITC in case he replaces Deveshwar who steps down next February. Here’s a look at Puri’s journey at ITC so far.ITC Journey

• Joined ITC in 1986.
• Was appointed as Managing Director of Surya Nepal, an ITC subsidiary, in 2001.
• Took charge as divisional CEO cigarettes business in 2009.
• Became the president ITC’s FMCG business in 2014.
• Was elevated as Executive Director in December 2015.
• Appointed Chief Operating Officer of ITC on July 25, 2016.

• As the chief of ITC’s packaged goods business, Puri  led the acquisition B Natural which marked the ITC’s entry into juice segment. He is also responsible for acquisition of hygiene brands like Savlon and Shower to Shower from Johnson and Johnson.
• His contribution towards several verticals including manufacturing, operations and the IT business hsa been crucial for ITC. 

• To safeguard ITC’s cigarettes business from the impact of excise duty increases. The cigarettes vertical is already facing declining volumes due to the government’s mandate to increase the size of pictorial warnings on cigarette packs.
• Puri also has to ensure that Chief Executive Officer YC Deveshwar’s target achieving of Rs 1 lakh crore in revenue from non-cigarette FMCG operations by 2030 sees light of the day.